Big 12 Adding Affiliate Members For Wrestling

Big 12 Adding Affiliate Members For Wrestling

The Big 12 has added Fresno State and Northern Iowa as affiliate members in the sport of wrestling to give the Conference a 12-team field.

The new additions will join Air Force, Iowa State, Northern Colorado, North Dakota State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, South Dakota State, Utah Valley, West Virginia and Wyoming in future regular and postseason competition.

“We are excited to add Fresno State and Northern Iowa as affiliate members in the sport of wrestling,” said Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. “We already compete at a high national level in the sport, and look forward to welcoming coaches, student-athletes and fans from each institution.”

The affiliate membership is effective immediately for the 2017-18 academic year. Northern Iowa and Fresno State will join the other Big 12 wrestling members in a regular-season scheduling alliance and will compete for the Conference postseason title and automatic qualification into the NCAA championship.

“We are extremely excited that our wrestling program has been accepted into the Big 12 Conference as an affiliate member,” said UNI Athletics Director David Harris. “The Big 12 is one of the best conferences in all of college athletics and it contains some of the very best student-athletes and coaches within the sport of wrestling. We look forward to the challenge of competing in the Big 12 and expanding the brand of UNI wrestling.”

“When you bring back a sport there are many hurdles to clear. Today, we are pleased to clear this hurdle and become a member of the Big 12 Conference in the sport of wrestling,” commented Fresno State Athletic Director Jim Bartko. “It’s long and rich history in this sport is deep and we are pleased to become a part of it.”

The 2018 Big 12 Wrestling Championship will take place for the second consecutive year at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 3-4.

In addition to wrestling, the Big 12 also includes affiliate members in the sports of gymnastics and rowing.

Not a wrestling enthusiast, but do understand a little about the sport, and the demands and sacrifices it entails, having two older brothers who participated in it at the high school level, one of which helped coach it once he began teaching.

That imparted, I’ve always wondered why more attention hasn’t been payed to its role at any level. I can’t think of any other sport that involves the kind of strength, endurance, agility, and true athleticism that wrestling does.

But, as to the above article, what are the thoughts about the inclusion of the newest members in the Big 12 wrestling format, from someone far more qualified than myself for an opinion?

As an old guy who remembers the old EWL, I always thought WVU not only held their own in it, but were considered a pretty decent wrestling program in “the day.”

First, agree with your assessment about the physical demands of wrestling. I think it would take a big sociological study to figure out why it never took off as a mainstream sport. Boxing is similar in terms of physical demands and one on one competition, and it was arguably the top spectator and national sport in the teens and 20s.

These additions will just make WVU’s job tougher. The Mountaineers, along with most of the country, were obviously well below Okie State, Oklahoma and Iowa State, and hasn’t been competitive against those teams. WVU only got out of the cellar last year at the Big 12 championships when the six teams were added to the Big 12 four.

For the additions this year, Northern Iowa was 18-3 last year and beat Missouri and Iowa State, so they are salty. Fresno is restarting its program, so have to figure it will be near the bottom for a couple of years.